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Two key elements that have contributed to this development and that are
interrelated are the significant and rapid progress in Information and Communications
Technologies, particularly internet-based, and the role of the media in exposing bad practices
in global supply chains of goods and services. If consumers log on to the internet today and
carry out a search on “ethical consumerism” or “ethical trade”, they will get thousands of
hits of web sites with information on these issues or specialised retail goods and services
advertised as either “ethical” or “fair trade”. In addition, there are articles nearly every day in
many newspapers and magazines on life stories of exploited workers, sometimes children,
who make products which are eventually sold in the west at many times the small amount of
money they are paid in wages. All of which contributes to a very confusing picture for the
average consumer, who is bombarded with messages of what to do or not to do. Trade
unions, charities and other civil society organisations the world over run regular campaigns
to inform consumers of how the products and services they buy are manufactured, farmed or
otherwise provided and produced. The aim is to highlight the significant profits made by
companies and others on the backs of workers in developing countries, pointing out that a
very obvious way to tackle poverty and inequality around the world would be to ensure that
everyone enjoys decent working conditions and benefits from a living wage, access to
adequate public services, particularly education, health and social protection, and a fulfilled
and meaningful life. In this way, the fundamental principles of ethical consumerism are
directly linked to the need for companies to be socially responsible in all aspects of their
business activities and for governments to apply and monitor the application of international
conventions relating to human rights and appropriate labour, social and environmental
standards.
In essence, therefore, “ethical consumerism” applies to the intentional purchase
by a consumer of products and services that have been manufactured, processed or provided
through ethical means, in other words, with minimal harm to or exploitation of humans,
animals and/or the natural environment. Put simply, it is about buying products and services
that are made and distributed under ethical conditions by companies that behave in an ethical
and socially responsible manner. Ethical consumerism is practised through “positive buying”
in that ethical products, for example, those branded “fair trade”, are favoured over others.
DECISION MODEL OF ETHICAL CONSUMERS
According to Rob Harrison, (founding director of the Ethical Consumer Research
Association) there are four factors which are regarded to be most important when influencing
the purchasing decisions of ethical consumers. (Harrison et al. 2005, 39-48) As shown in
Figure 1.1 Decision Model of Ethical Consumer below, are the identified four factors:
Governments: inform ethical consumers by certifying, creating legislation and
publishing related information, and data of the relevant research to the public,
campaign Groups: can provide useful tools for ethical consumers, such as labels to
assist in identifying ethical products, while updating information and data necessary
Private Sector: influences consumers by both alternative companies and mainstream
companies. Alternative companies can provide identity to ethical consumers while the
mainstream companies can create a fashion or trend to attract more consumers to the
ethical market.
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Specialist Ethical Consumer Publications: informs ethical consumers according to
three main sources which are campaign group publication, specialist ethical consumer
organizations and mainstream consumer’s association.
Figure 1: Decision Model of Ethical Consumer
Culture is often defined as “the essential character of a society that distinguishes it from
another” (Lamb, Hair, & McDaniel, 2005, p. 123).
Trompenaars (1994) stated culture operates within a group, is learned (often through
generations), influences the basic thinking process of groups of people, and describes
common behaviours and values that groups of people may exhibit under certain conditions.
Consequently, a fourth cultural dimension above the national culture can be identified, which
represents the “supra” level. This highest level of culture comprises nationalities sharing
political systems, ethnic roots, religious values, and economic standards. It distinguishes four
levels of culture: on the “macro”-level is located national culture, “Supraculture” - shared by
nations with similar economic systems and development, ethnicity, religion, “Mesoculture”
shared by groups or communities, e.g., a professional group or industry, within a macro
culture and on the “micro”-level the organizational culture is referenced. Consequently, a
fourth cultural dimension that is above the national culture can be identified. This “supra”-
level of culture comprises nations sharing economic standards, ethnic roots, religious values,
etc. Therefore, national culture cannot be understood independently from the economic
system, stage of economic development, religion, etc. While supra- and macro cultural
factors represent the wider cultural environment, meso and micro cultural forces constitute
the closer cultural environment. This distinction is significant because the two cultural
environments differ in the way in which values are learned, as well as in value endurance and
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their impact on behaviour (Hentze & Lindert, 1992). Thevarious cultural levels, which cannot
be seen isolated from each other but influence each other, are displayed in Figure 2.
Figure 2
The modern conception of culture focuses directly on observable behaviour. It
recognizes that culture not only predisposes the individual toward certain behaviour, but also
eliminates other behaviour. Consequently, culture creates a repertoire of behavioural skills.
Culture directly influences what people will do and what people can do. This interpretation of
culture is more important for how managers should decide, less for what the decision should
be. Culture affects implementation and execution of strategies more than their formulation
(Johansson, 2000). In the case of the marketing department, culture and ethics have a direct
influence in the implementation and execution of strategies. The marketers need to
understand the culture of the foreign country in order to obtain success.
Personal values
The value of corporate social responsibility (CSR), particularly as it relates to the
rise of "ethical consumers." These are shoppers who base purchasing decisions on whether a
product's social and ethical positioning—for example, its environmental impact or the labor
practices used to manufacture it—aligns with their values.
The average consumer is demanding so-called ethical products, such as fair trade–
certified coffee and chocolate, fair labor–certified garments, cosmetics produced without
animal testing, and products made through the use of sustainable technologies. Yet when
companies offer such products, they are invariably met with indifference by all but a selected
group of consumers.
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Although many individuals bring their values and beliefs into purchasing
decisions, when we examined actual consumer behavior, we found that the percentage of
shopping choices made on a truly ethical basis proved far smaller than most observers
believe.
Challenges for Ethical Consumerism
Many areas of consumer concern are characterized by a lack of effective
labelling and availability of alternatives in the marketplace. The National Consumer Council
(NCC) identified a large amount of willing environmental consumers who could find „neither
the products nor the accurate information to guide their behaviour‟ (NCC 1996). Consumers
had insufficient information on company social and environmental behaviour to make an
informed purchasing decision . In such situations would-be ethical consumers are forced to
make choices based on imperfect information and the lack of an ideal alternative in keeping
with their values. The notion of an ethical consumer effectively assisting in moving the
society into sustainability is inherently brought into question, given that consumerism tends
to lead to un sustainability. Furthermore often these tools may be misleading; by solving one
problem within sustainability sometimes another problem can be created. The lack of a whole
systems approach to sustainability by eco-labels can mislead consumers unbeknownst to
them. An initial overview from a Strategic Sustainable Development perspective, yielded
some strengths and weaknesses in current ethical consumerism patterns
CONCLUSION
Ethical consumers want plausible guarantees about ethical attributes. Suppliers
must address the Quality challenges concerning certification and branding to promote their
quality-assured products. Third-party accreditation and assurance systems may be a more
efficient and effective mechanism to Formulate and communicate ethical attributes to
consumers than through retailer labelling. Every consumer has to realize her multiple role(s)
and the roles’ salience in an integrated manner. While business firms value her as a consumer
of their product, targeting her myopically by blindly appealing to her values to increase
product appeal and brand-consumer relationship embeddedness will have a detrimental
effect. Managing the negative effects of consumerism in terms of identity conflicts is a key
issue that has not received much attention in existing literature. Firms as well as individuals
need to make suitable adjustments to ensure that while the quest for improved living
conditions
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